Steam condenser, is steam/water heat exchanger, working as the most important auxiliary equipment for steam turbine generator. The heat exchange efficiency for the condenser is directly related with the efficiency of turbine generator, indicated by unit consumption for power generating process, or unit coal consumption for power generating process. The most significant impact factor for the condenser efficiency is the contamination inside the condenser. Usually, cooling water for power plant is river water or sea water, and silt and miscellaneous contamination existing in water will accumulate in water pass. Efficiency for condenser will be decreased due to such contamination, and get worse and worse with further operation. Therefore, as major energy saving measurement, the cleaning operation in condenser is very important for power plant.
Currently, there are two methods to clean condenser. First method is to clean the condenser after shutdown, tube will be cleaned one by one manually or by high pressure water, and this method has a certain advantage, after manual cleaning, the condenser can be cleaned as new set, while the disadvantage is, prior to open the top cover of condenser for flushing and cleaning, either the turbine generator or one part of condenser has to be shutdown; second method is on-line cleaning, with help from recycle water pressure, rubber particles will be sent into Copper tube (or Titanium tube) in condenser, to take any silt attached on pipe wall away; the disadvantage for this method is that, it is difficult to find the desired size and material for rubber particles, and also water pressures to meet the design requirement; rubber particles travel and distribute in Copper tubes (or Titanium tubes) in same way as operating water flow, so, not all the pipes can be cleaned; sometime, rubber particles may congest in tube due to various reasons, make the pipe blocked; it is also difficult to recovery rubber particles, the rubber particle failed to be recycled, will increase the cost for cleaning operation and pollute the environment.